Active automotive engine vibration isolation using feedback control

Large frequency band feedback active automotive engine vibration isolation is considered. A MIMO (multi-input multi-output) controller design for an active engine suspension system has been performed making use of a virtual development environment for design, analysis, and co-simulation based closed-loop verification. Utilising relevant control object dynamic modelling, this design strategy provides a powerful opportunity to deal with various plant dynamics, such as structural flexibility and nonlinear characteristics where the main objective is to approach the actual physical characteristics for design and verification in early design phases where no prototypes are yet physically available. H-2 loop shaping technique proves to be powerful when achieving the desired frequency dependent loop gain while ensuring closed-loop stability. However, to achieve closed-loop stability two kinds of nonlinearities have to be taken into account. Those are nonlinear material characteristics of the engine mounts and large angular engine displacements. It is demonstrated how the adopted design strategy facilitates the investigation of the latter nonlinearity's impact on closed-loop characteristics. To deal with the nonlinearities, gain scheduling has been used. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.